Sun Grid Engine is a distributed resources management (DRM) system that maximizes resource utilization and workload throughput while adhering to resource allocation policies and business rules. Sun Grid Engine 6.2 Update 4 release is the latest available version. It is a bug fix update release and delivers no new features. Anyone interested in the DRM system may want to read a blog entry authored by Dan Templeton that provides the basics on the Sun Grid Engine to help new users get started.

Templeton begins by explaining DRMs and the terminology used in association with these systems. He then goes into how the Sun Grid Engine cluster works, covering everything from submitting a job to scheduling runs and job assignments to execution. Readers can view a figure of the process for ease in understanding. Four points are identified as the top reasons why the Sun Grid Engine is superior to other DRMs. These are noted by Templeton as:

Flexibility: Sun Grid Engine makes it possible to customize the system to exactly fit an individual customer's needs.

Advanced scheduler: Sun Grid Engine does more than just spread jobs evenly around a group of machines. The Sun Grid Engine qmaster supports a variety policies to fine-tune how jobs are distributed to the machines. Using the scheduling policies, the Sun Grid Engine can be configured to make its scheduling decisions to match an organization's business rules.